iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 3h

I think Cuck Panopticon is playing Rebel Lounge next weekend.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 13h

Do yourself a favor and don’t look at your driver’s license. Oy.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 13h

(Though when I see food media and “food media” mixing them up, I am… significantly less forgiving. We all make mistakes sometimes, but if you’re a pro, this is the kind of mistake you should make *once*.)

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 13h

Yeah, I think the vocal difference is *less* pronounced with an American accent. But 99% of the time when I encounter it, it’s written, not spoken. Genuinely meant to be helpful, not trying to give people a hard time.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Oh, wow, just found this mnemonic I made years ago while sifting through some old files. Ever have a hard time remembering which is tonkAtsu (fried pork chop) and which is tonkOtsu (pork ramen broth)? Not anymore.

A mnemonic image showing the word "TONKOTSU" wherein the second letter O is replaced by a round ramen bowl.

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Reposted by Dominic Armato

AM Foster @amfosterwrites.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

We’re packing preorder boxes!! Head over to amfosterwrites.com to grab your preorder pack today! I’m giving the next 25 orders free Audible codes for the release!! Remember, it’s narrated by the amazing @darmato.bsky.social !!! #booksky #readerswanted

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

(Paraphrasing, don’t recall his exact words.)

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

FFS, read a bit with Theo where he said today’s outfielders are so good they rob hits and excitement, and I’m a Cubs fan who is obligated to revere Theo, but I wanted to scream “OMFG, that’s a GOOD thing MFer!!! We are living in a golden age of defense and it is GLORIOUS. That ***IS*** excitement!!”

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Me: These gowns feel symbolic and pointless. Doctor: They’re for modesty. Me: Well, I wouldn’t want to be immodest while I’m getting my prostate exam.

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Reposted by Dominic Armato

Chuck Jordan @sasquatchers.wtf · 05/10/2026

So many people hoard the #Playdate, keeping it locked in a death grip and staring at the screen, not sharing it with someone and enjoying the theater of the mind enabled by sound, the “other sense.” God, what is wrong with them?! There’s a better way: preorder Season 3. play.date/games/sound-...

play.date

Sound Mind for Playdate

A two-player hide-and-seek game about getting the most from your inheritance.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Counterpoint: For the benefit of humankind, all individuals emerging from colonoscopies should be given fully charged smartphones with access to every social media platform available.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Preorders are open! This is @amfosterwrites.bsky.social’s first novel and my first audiobook narration, so we are both on pins and needles. With apologies for the Hollywood “X meets X” cliche, I like to think of it as Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Office Space. This was fun to record.

audible.com

Please Allow 5-7 Days for Justice

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. AM Foster’s debut novel in The Pilot Program Series Cael Irix does not take risks. Every decision in his life is calculated. Every variable accounted for. E...

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Due to a preorder snafu, the audiobook for Please Allow 5-7 Days for Justice was briefly available, and we have our first review! Michael loved it! (Thanks, Michael, whoever you are!) Official release in just a couple of weeks, on 10/19…

A screenshot of a five-star audiobook review on Audible from a user named Michael for Please Allow 5-7 Days for Justice that reads:

Fantastic. This was a great journey from start to finish. If you are a fan of Drew Haye’s “Fred the vampire account” this is similar but with space! I highly enjoyed it and Dominic Armato did a fantastic job. I’ve enjoyed his voice work in games before so I knew it would be amazing. 5.0 Performance, 5.0 Story.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Holy crap! Don’t go to the Aragon for anything where crappy sound will ruin it for you. But go see some jazz or the poetry slam at the Green Mill IMMEDIATELY.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Though it’s been a hot minute. The last show I saw at the Aragon was… uh… Nirvana 😬

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Have you not been? The Aragon is kind of a cool old room with the absolute worst acoustics ever. The Green Mill is a fucking treasure.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Even *Olive Garden* has gotten that one right for a couple of decades now.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

About as good as I feel about Gino’s East’s.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

(I know this is unreasonable, hence “pet peeve.”)

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Pet Peeve: People making a restaurant’s name possessive when it isn’t. (e.g. Andreoli —> Andreoli’s, Bacanora —> Bacanora’s, Mister Pio —> Mister Pio’s, etc.)

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Of course there could be many factors at work. I’m not presenting this as the exclusive reason why restaurants fail. What I’m trying to illustrate is that any time an old favorite goes out of business, hordes of people are shocked… SHOCKED!… that a place they haven’t visited in forever went under.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

There’s a dumb potatoe joke in here somewhere, but I’m just not finding it.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Wife: You’re not from Chicago. You were born in Melrose Park. Your son is more Chicago than you are. 10yo Son: Yeah, and who has the Sears Tower on his T-shirt! <points to his shirt> Me: That’s the Hancock tower, kid. Kid: …oh. One of the most glorious moments of my life.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Her: I met two quail! Out on the porch! Me: What are their names? Her: I didn’t get their names. Me: Well, then you didn’t *meet* them, did you?

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

(Pretty sure she’s no longer around for me to rub it in, either.)

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Epilogue: I only just realized that second grade was the same year *my* teacher disapproved of my video game obsession, and well… we all know how THAT turned out :-D

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

That’s when we politely wrapped up the conversation and left. That the same kid is now acing electrical engineering at a prestigious college doesn’t really matter. But it is the icing on the cake I wish she were still around to hear. You’d better believe I would go out of my way to tell her.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“………No, I wasn’t.” “You say he talks about this game nonstop. Can you tell me anything he has told you about the world and devices and machines he is building in this game?” “………no.” …

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I went on to ask her, “Are you aware that in this game, as a second grader without any guidance, he has taught himself to build electronic circuits?”…

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

She didn’t have an answer for that…

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I asked her, “If the answer is yes, OK, let’s talk about it, but first, would we be having this conversation if he were acting the same way about playing chess, or reading, or baseball?”…

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“Is it interfering with his schoolwork or social growth?” we asked. “Nnnnno,” she said, “But I don’t think it’s healthy that he is so obsessed with a video game.”…

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

When we arrived, she grimly informed us that she was concerned he was developing an unhealthy obsession with Minecraft. It was all he wanted to talk about, he couldn’t wait to go home to play it, etc…

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

An old anecdote about judging people’s hobbies that came up in conversation yesterday: When our oldest kid was in second grade, his teacher called us in for a conference. No explanation…

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

But also, to be clear, if the 2023 version is what its creators set out to make, I’m cool with that. I’m OK with people making bland art so long as it is *their* bland art :-D (I am in no position to say whether or not this was the case.)

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

(I haven’t seen either of the SMB movies and couldn’t comment on them specifically.)

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Yeah, I might be in the minority, but I would always rather see an interesting, earnest miss than something predictably fine.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I tend to prefer to give the benefit of the doubt unless shown otherwise. But I agree, the nature of Hollywood filmmaking makes this a… nuanced example.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

But it is true that when the “creator“ is nebulous, and we don’t really know where artistic decisions are coming from, it does certainly make them easier to attack. Did this come from production design or the boardroom?

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

(While I see it as a pedantic argument that I stridently disagree with, I have seen it argued that because of its collaborative nature, film is, by definition, “not art.”)

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

No, I understand, and I think you make a very good point in that this is maybe a more difficult example since film — and Hollywood film, in particular — is such a collaborative art form…

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I’ve seen it referenced, but I haven’t seen either film nor am I familiar with the context. But given my interest in this subject, I should probably remedy that :-D

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I think of how many tremendous weird/interesting/offbeat/challenging works of art would have gotten the Sonic treatment had they initially been subjected to a knee-jerk outcry from the public and it gives me chills, and not in a good way.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

And… is that what we want? Where the weird and the offbeat and the atypical that people might find off-putting at first is chucked in the bin? Maybe it was the right choice, maybe not, but man, I’d rather have a collection of interesting hits and misses than a whole lotta predictable.

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

And in the Sonic case, specifically — and I’ll stress again here that I’ve really only seen a few images/clips and have no strong opinion about which works better — certainly, the first version was much more atypical and offbeat, while the second was much more typical/commercial…

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Dominic Armato @darmato.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It was that imposition of will... beyond "I hate this look, I don't want to see it," and into "I demand that you change this" that crossed a really, really important line for me. And I wonder how much audience "collaboration" in the wake of that is really just surrendering in advance.

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